Outside the kitchen door, Lara was sitting on the porch step while the kids were all rolling in the grass with the kittens. Riley had gotten into a staring contest with Veronica, and DJ claimed Natalie wanted to shake hands with him because she was swatting at his hand.
He then heard Lara warn Sammy, "Just don't let Noreen see those kittens. She'll want to snatch them up for herself."
"Noreen?" Sammy said since she hadn't met her yet either.
Playing Lara's unwitting accomplice, DJ told Sammy, "That's the teacher. She's scary."
When they all went to the front, minus the kittens, Rico introduced Sammy to the terrifying Noreen.
Sammy looked up at her with earnest eyes and pleaded, "Please, teacher, don't take my kittens. I really love them."
Right away, Noreen knew who was to blame. She wheeled on Lara. "What have you been telling people about me?" she hissed at her and Lara cracked up. "Turning me into Cruella De Vil of kittens," Noreen groused.
Lara had to defend herself on that point. "I didn't say anything about you making a coat out of them."
Done glaring at Lara, Noreen now turned to Sammy. "All right, where are these kittens? Let's have a look at them. Hand them over."
"Noooo!" Sammy shrieked while running away from Noreen. "Natalie! Veronica! Hide!"
The other kids then followed her, getting into the drama, and yelling and running off too.
Lara gaped at Noreen half in disbelief, half in awe. "Now you gotta admit, that was all you."
Noreen shrugged then sighed. "Now I'll never get a look at those kittens," she complained, and Lara laughed at her again.
Mitch stared between the two of them until Rico told him. "Don't try to figure out these two."
"So you are a cat person?" Mitch said to Noreen.
"I like them. My grandparents have an outdoor cat, and sometimes she brings us dead animals and birds she kills." Noreen nodded approvingly while Mitch made a face.
"I'm fine with Sammy's kittens never doing that. Having to explain something like that to her..." Mitch shook his head.
"Just tell her it's how cats show love," Noreen said.
"Cats are psychopaths," Rico said gleefully.
"Fluffy, lovable psychopaths," Lara said then she put her arm around Noreen's skinny shoulders. "Sort of like the two of us."
Eventually they managed to coax the kids back and into the car, but Sammy kept watching Noreen with suspicion and the other kids did too. Noreen took full advantage, eyeing the kids like she was trying to pick which one she wanted to bake into a pie.
As they drove off, Mitch looked kind of doubtful, so Rico assured him. "Sammy will have a blast. You should worry more about yourself, stuck here alone with me."
Mitch groaned. "Let's get to work."
"OK, but you strap on a tool belt, and I don't know what I might do," Rico warned him.
"You might need to restrain yourself. I want to finish up with the basement today. I need someone to hold a flashlight. I tried to set up a light, but I can't get a good angle," Mitch told him as they headed inside.
"You're just scared to go down there by yourself. Admit it," Rico taunted Mitch who led the way to the basement.
"Whatever you say," Mitch said as he took a flashlight off a hook and handed it to him. "The breaker is off. Use this and watch your step."
Shining the flashlight around the basement, Rico saw that another light was already hanging from the low ceiling. "You have the light up already."
"It's not connected. I didn't want to mess with the wiring without enough light. These wires are old. It's not as easy to figure out what's what," Mitch said.
That made Rico uneasy, but Mitch didn't seem like a guy who would take on more than he could handle. They got to work with Rico acting as a portable lamp. The angle was awkward and that put him so close, he was practically plastered to Mitch.
